Balu Nayak

Research Interests:

  • Food process engineering design, control, optimization and validation
  • Phytochemical processing in foods
  • Healthy foods from phytochemicals/bioactive compounds in vegetables, fruits and cereals
  • Sustainable approaches for reducing food losses and waste/by-products during manufacturing of food products with a focus on water and energy use;
  • Understand and develop foods using novel technologies to reduce allergies in foods/plant materials.

Research Project:
Materials Management in Maine

Resources:
Presentation: 2017 Maine Sustainability & Water Conference

Degrees:

  • Washington State University, Ph.D. (Food Engineering)
  • Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, M.Tech. (Food Engineering / Post-harvest Engineering)
  • Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology, B.Tech. (Agriculture Engineering)

Courses:

  • Food Safety and Quality control
  • Food Engineering Principles
  • Introduction to Food Science
  • Food Processing Laboratory

Profile:

Dr. Balu Nayak is a Food Process Engineer and serves as an Assistant Professor of Food Processing in the Food Science and Human Nutrition Program, School of Food and Agriculture. Prior to coming to the University of Maine, Dr. Nayak was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Food Allergy Research and Resource Program (FARRP) in the Department of Food Science and Technology in the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. His research explores developing sustainable methods for producing high quality and safety food products rich in bioactive nutrients. This question takes him across disciplines in develop green methods for retaining bioactive compounds from plant materials, study interactions between proteins and bioactive compounds, design food processing methods including nanotechnology to reduce food contamination.

Nayak was included in the 2016 Marquis Who’s Who in America, selected for 2016 Emerging Leader Network by the Institute of Food Technologists and 2014 – 2015 Center for Undergraduate Research (CUGR) Research Fellow at the University of Maine.

Selected Publications:

  • Sappati, P., Nayak, B., and vanWalsum, P. 2017 Effect of glass transition on the shrinkage of Sugar Kelp (Saccharina latissima) during hot air convective drying. Journal of Food Engineering, DOI: 10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2017.04.018.
  • Lasekan, A.O., Cao, H**, Maleki, S. and Nayak, B. (2017). Shrimp tropomyosin retains antibody reactivity after exposure to acidic condition. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.8221.
  • Amponsah, A. and Nayak, B. (2016). Effects of microwave and ultrasound assisted extraction on the recovery of soy proteins for soy allergen detection. Journal of Food Science, 81 (11), pp T2876 – T2885.
  • Ramesh, T., Nayak, B., Amirbahman, A., Tripp, C. and Mukhopadhyay, S. (2016). Application of Ultraviolet light assisted Titanium dioxide photocatalysis for food safety: A Review. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies, 38, pp 105 – 115.
  • Lasekan, A.O.; Nayak, B. 2016. Effects of buffer additives and thermal processing methods on the solubility of shrimp (Penaeus monodon) proteins and the immunoreactivity of its major allergen. Food Chem. 200:146-153.
  • Dahmoune, F.; Remini, H.; Dairi, S.; Aoun, O.; Moussi, K.; Bouaoudia-Madi, N.; Adjeroud, N.;  Kadri, N.; Lefsih, K.; Boughani, L.; Mouni, L.; Nayak, B.; Madani, K. 2015.  Ultrasound assisted extraction of phenolic compounds from  lentiscus L. leaves: Comparative study of artificial neural network (ANN) versus degree of experiment for prediction ability of phenolic compounds recovery.  Ind. Crops Prod. 77:251-261.
  • Moussi, K.; Nayak, B.; Perkins, L.B.; Dahmoune, F.; Madani, K.; Chibane, M. 2015.  HPLC-DAD profile of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of leaves extract of Rhamnus alaternus L.  Ind. Crops Prod. 74:858-866.
  • Nayak, B.; Dahmoune, F.; Moussi, K.; Remini, H.; Dairi, S.; Aoun, O.; Khodir, M. 2015. Comparison of microwave, ultrasound and accelerated-assisted solvent extraction for recovery of polyphenols from Citrus sinensis Food Chem. 187:507-516.
  • Dahmoune, F.; Nayak, B.; Moussi, K.; Remini, H.; Madani, K. 2015. Optimization of microwave-assisted extraction of polyphenols from Myrtus communis L. leaves.  Food Chem. 166:585-595.
  • Moussi, K., Nayak, B., Perkins, B., Dahmoune, F., Madani, K. and Chibane, M. (2015). HPLC-DAD profile of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of leaves extract of Rhamnus alaternus Industrial Crops and Products. 74, pp 858 – 866.
  • Nayak, B., Liu, R. H., and Tang, J. (2015). Effect of processing on phenolic antioxidants of fruits, vegetables and grains – A review. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 55 (7), 887 – 919.